Call it What You Want

11 - High Above the Whole Scene

June 2017
Joe's POV

I'm not sure what kind of reaction I expected from Taylor. Honestly, I knew that no matter when or how I told her, it wouldn't go well. Her reaction tonight was certainly justified. I'd never yelled at her before, and I knew I freaked her out when I did. I felt bad that it all blew up like this. I never wanted to tell her, but I couldn't imagine continuing this relationship of lying. Maybe we wouldn't even have a relationship after this. At least the truth was out.  

After I left the bedroom, I took a seat on the couch next to Olivia in the living room and ate my sandwich. I couldn't just leave Taylor like this. I cared so deeply for her which is why we were in this mess. "What would you have done?" I asked the cat who just stared back at me. As I stroked her fur, I remembered that I still had to get the device to the CIA heads. It was still in Taylor's room because in the yelling I forgot to take it before I left.

Should I tell Natalie that I may have blown our opportunity? Taylor would have to come out of the bedroom sooner or later. I could get it then. Grabbing a blanket from the basket, I decided to settle in on the couch.

You up? I texted Natalie.

She responded within a few seconds. About to go to bed. Need something?

I hesitated before replying. T and I had a big fight...

Wanna call? Natalie asked.

All I wanted to do was have a normal conversation with one of the only people in the world who knew what was going on, but I couldn't. Taylor would hear if I took a call in the living room. She would hear the door open and close if I left. Can't. Still here.

Are you okay????

I don't know yet. I answered truthfully.

Talk tomorrow?

Sure.

Today had been exhausting. I quickly drifted off to sleep on the couch.

Taylor's POV

I flopped onto my bed after Joe left and burried my face into a pillow. I must have cried myself to sleep because I woke up to see my lights still on. My curly hair stuck to my face from all the dried tears. I sat up in bed, took a few deep breaths and brushed my hair away. Across the room, near the TV, sat Joe's laptop. He must have forgotten to take it with him. I was curious to see the files again.

I quickly climbed out of bed and stood in front of laptop about to open it. At first, I felt like I would be invading his privacy but remembered that he knew all about me. It only seemed fair that I look. Plus, he kind of already showed me. When I opened it, the blank password space flashed in front of me. I entered a few common password guesses, but they weren't correct. Knowing that he was a highly trained intelligence agent, I figured that it would be a secure password. I was able to connect my laptop to his and run a program to unlock his laptop. It turned out that his password wasn't too complex since it only took a few minutes.

Once I got in, I scrolled through the massive list of files. I didn't recognize most of the names. I knew that the CIA's profile bank must be huge as well. From what Joe told me, this was only a portion of what MI6 had. Whoever obtained these files must have had extremely high clearance or next level hacking skills. I spent months training with the CIA, but I never got super into coding or data analysis. My job was primarily to get the information and pass it on to someone who knew what to do with it. 

Next, I searched for Joe's profile. Just like mine, his profile had every detail about him. Who his parents were. All the addresses he had lived at. His grades in school. Most of the information was familiar to me. Things I found out about him since we'd been dating for almost a year now. What I didn't know about was his operation history.